Champions League Group stage draw today at 1800 CET

Chelsea's Michael Essien celebrates scoring against APOEL Nicosia during their Champions League soccer match at Stamford Bridge in London December 8, 2009.REUTERS

With Champions League qualifiers decided, the draw for the Group stages comes fairly immediate today with Europe's top teams joined by Tottenham Hotspur, Hapeol Tel Aviv, Partizan Belgrade and MSK Zilina.

The draw features teams under management by Alex Ferguson, two times Champions League winner with Manchester United, Jose Mourinho, two times Champions League winner with Inter Milan and FC Porto (now with Real Madrid) and of course two times Italian winner with AC Milan, Carlo Ancelotti, now manager of Chelsea.

These greats will be joined by the likes of Harry Redknapp, newcomer with Tottenham, and Steve McClaren's Dutch side, FC Twente, who qualified after McClaren guided them to the Eredvisie title, but promptly left to manage Wolfsburg who were beaten over the weekend by Bayern in the Bundesliga opener.

The teams feature four pots meaning that each group of four will face a team from 'Pot 1' containing Champions League regulars, 'Pot 2/3' top performers from each country and 'Pot 4' teams from smaller countries/qualifers.

Whilst Tottenham Hotspur join Rangers in 'Pot 3' most focus will be on Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United who are in 'Pot 1', although teams from the same association cannot be placed in the same pool, eg. Tottenham will have to face one of Bayern, Inter, Lyon or AC Milan whilst Barcelona will certainly not be playing Real Madrid or Valencia until the knockout stages.

With certain players cup-tied, transfers will be an issue in the remaining days left of the transfer window as Sevilla were knocked out on Tuesday leaving potential Tottenham striker Luis Fabiano not available (Arsenal agreed their deal for Sébastien Squillaci before the Champions League decider, hence the defender remains available).

Elsewhere, Robinho was a target for AC Milan who were chasing Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Rafa Benitez - now at Inter refused to acknowledge Liverpool's distress over Javier Mascherano/Dirk Kuyt.

"I will not talk about this because I am the coach," he said, "The coach cannot sign any players. It has to be the technical director and the chairman. The club can do it. I am the coach, not the manager."

The full 'Pots' can be seen below with Brussel-based Uefa going live with the draw at 1800 CET:

"We'll take on anybody now," said Redknapp, manager of Tottenham after last night's win. "We're in the group stage and we'll give anyone a good game here."

Club

Route

Last in

Years*

2009/10**

Best***

Pot 1

FC Internazionale Milano

Holders/ Champions, Italy

2009/10

9

Winners

Winners

FC Barcelona

Champions, Spain

2009/10

14

Semi-finals

Winners

Manchester United FC

Runners-up, England

2009/10

15

Quarter-finals

Winners

Chelsea FC

Champions, England

2009/10

8

Round of 16

Runners-up

Arsenal FC

Third place, England

2009/10

12

Quarter-finals

Runners-up

FC Bayern München

Champions, Germany

2009/10

13

Runners-up

Winners

AC Milan

Third place, Italy

2009/10

13

Round of 16

Winners

Olympique Lyonnais

Runners-up, France

2009/10

10

Semi-finals

Semi-finals

Pot 2

SV Werder Bremen

Third place, Germany

2008/09

6

UEL, round of 16

Quarter-finals

Real Madrid CF

Runners-up, Spain

2009/10

14

Round of 16

Winners

AS Roma

Runners-up, Italy

2008/09

6

UEL, round of 32

Runners-up

FC Shakhtar Donetsk

Champions, Ukraine

2008/09

5

UEL, round of 32

Group stage

SL Benfica

Champions, Portugal

2007/08

5

UEL, qf

Winners

Valencia CF

Third place, Spain

2007/08

6

UEL, qf

Runners-up

Olympique de Marseille

Champions, France

2009/10

6

UEL, round of 16

Winners

Panathinaikos FC

Champions, Greece

2008/09

8

UEL, round of 16

Runners-up

Pot 3

Tottenham Hotspur FC

Fourth place, England

Debut

0

Did not compete

Semi-finals

Rangers FC

Champions, Scotland

2009/10

9

Group stage

Semi-finals

AFC Ajax

Runners-up, Netherlands

2005/06

8

UEL, round of 32

Winners

FC Schalke 04

Runners-up, Germany

2007/08

2

Did not compete

Quarter-finals

FC Basel 1893

Champions, Switzerland

2008/09

2

UEL, group stage

Second group stage

SC Braga

Runners-up, Portugal

Debut

0

UEL, 3qr

N/A

FC København

Champions, Denmark

2006/07

1

UEL, round of 32

Group stage

FC Spartak Moskva

Runners-up, Russia

2006/07

9

Did not compete

Semi-finals

Pot 4

Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC

Champions, Israel

Debut

0

UEL, round of 32

N/A

FC Twente

Champions, Netherlands

Debut

0

UEL, round of 32

N/A

FC Rubin Kazan

Champions, Russia

2009/10

1

UEL, round of 16

Group stage

AJ Auxerre

Third place, France

2002/03

3

Did not compete

Quarter-finals

CFR 1907 Cluj

Champions, Romania

2008/09

1

UEL, group stage

Group stage

FK Partizan

Champions, Serbia

2003/04

1

UEL, group stage

Group stage

MŠK Žilina

Champions, Slovakia

Debut

0

UEL, play-off round

N/A

Bursaspor

Champions, Turkey

Debut

0

Did not compete

N/A

What To Look Out For

The Group of Death: Inter, Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur, and FC Twente?

Old Rivalries: Glasgow Rangers will be 3/8 to face an English team sparking English-scottish rivalries with England dominating the recent proceedings.

Reunions: Jose Mourinho's spanish Real Madrid side could Chelsea in the group stages after a thrilling encounter with his former team in last season's knockout last sixteen. A meeting with either Arsene Wenger or Alex Ferguson or even Massimiliano Allegri's AC Milan could also be interesting for the former Premiership and Serie A manager.